How did we suck the life out of it? Many, if not most, of the bloggers on here put links up to their site talking about the tournament and asking people to vote. The only difference as I see it, is that we had more people who then actually came and voted. And I am sure the ladies really hated having thousands upon thousands of people who had never seen their site discover it for the first time.

But then again, this is a “hot blogger” contest, so we should try to be as official and serious about it as possible…..

Oh yeh, Matt just sucked the life out of this one. Just like MJ sucked the life out of the NBA finals right?? Just like Tiger sucks the life out of the Masters right?? Just like Federer sucks the life out of the US Open right?? I call it utter domination my friends. By presenting it to the Big blue nation he is absolutely ANNIHILATING this competition…and it shall continue…The Big Blue Nation has spoken…

I voted over and over, but it eventually quit counting it. I think you are going to win the division. I can’t believe they have Paul Shirley’s Blog on here. He write for ESPN for God’s sake. If we play other divisions, I hope we meet Mr. Shirley in the finals – he has a female’s name.

For real, this is just the beginning. 2006 became the year that Kentucky fans Discovered The Internet ™. They like this more than radio call-in shows because everyone gets to post their opinion. And believe me, every Kentucky fan has an opinion.

I have been voting and enjoying this contest, but today I think I’ve observed a little more than “chicanery” in getting people to vote. I went to the KentuckySportsRadio website to check it out. While reading comments on his blog regarding this contest, I noted that “donovansucks” (Comment #14) has posted a program for voters to download (imbedded in a KSR program to watch the blog headlines from your desktop). I downloaded the program and tried voting for KSR through the link on the KSR site. I kept clicking on the link to vote, but nothing appeared to happen. I then opened another browser and checked the vote count and discovered that my clicking generated multiple votes for KSR. What’s up??? Looks like an easy way for KSR fans to vote hundereds of times. The comments even refer to this “program”. Not fair!

It’s really funny when you consider the love/hate relationship Matt has with his site’s fans. On the one hand, most UK fans coming to vote in a hot blogger bracket are annoying and will constantly remind you of how great UK is, no matter the topic they’ll stick it in there. Matt knows how annoying his fans can be, and I’m fairly certain he longs for people to articulate well thought out arguments or interesting, pithy comments that zing … and on the other hand, Matt would be nowhere without his army of redneck support.

You see? Love/hate.

It’s even funnier that this was initially supposed to be a vote on “looks,” but clearly, UK fans have turned it into a personal affront on their school spirit.

And what’s worse is more and more people are being alienated by know-it-all “fans” who think being obnoxious is how to be perceived as being a “winner.”

I can picture someone typing out “7 national championships …” right now as some sort of dignified reply, but in the end — we all lose.

UK fans neglect parenting, body maintenance and any type of intellectual pursuit for 11 months out of the year in favor of basketball. Apparently that one other month they spend voting in a hot blogger contest.